Easy, Delicious French Salmon Omelet Recipe

Do you like salmon omelets?

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4.8 stars from 8 ratings of a French Salmon Omelet

A French salmon omelet decorated with roasted red pepper - done in under an hour! | Source

What's so different about a French omelet?

A French omelet is lighter and fluffier than its English or American cousin, and the secret is in the cooking technique. With this little trick, you can take any omelet and add Continental flair. Then you can call it an omelette!

You will use one frying pan: for a small omelet for one or two, an 8-inch pan is great. For a brunch or dinner serving four or six - or to make enough for leftovers, use a 10-inch pan. It is best if the pan has rounded sides, but that is not essential. A tight-fitting pot lid is essential.

The key is that we are going to start cooking the omelet on a high heat, then instantly bring it down to a very low heat, and let it cook on its own for 10 to 20 minutes. On a gas stove, this is easy. Simply heat the pan on high, add the olive oil, then add the omelet mixture, and turn the flame down to low. On an electric stove, it is a bit trickier. This is because electric stoves do not cool off quickly.

The solution for an electric stove top is to use two burners. Set one burner on very low, and leave it on with no pan on it, and nothing nearby. On another burner, increase the heat to high, heat the pan, add the olive oil, then add the omelet mixture. Then cover the pan and immediately move it to the pre-warmed burner on low heat. And be sure to turn off the high burner. Your omelet will be ready, fluffy, and delicious in 10 to 20 minutes.

Slicing the Salmon

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Slice from a Sockeye Salmon fillet. You can use Coho, and it can be raw, cooked, or smoked. Smoked salmon is called lox. | Source

Sockeye salmon sliced into thin strips. If you are using cooked salmon, you can just crumble it. | Source

Cook Time

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 20 min

Ready in: 40 min

Yields: Serves four people two eggs and 1 ounce salmon

Salmon or Lox?

The long, slow cooking of a French omelet allows you to use raw salmon. This recipe is also an excellent way to use up leftovers from a salmon dinner, too! Or you can steam the salmon, or use lox or any other smoked salmon.

If you use lox or salty smoked salmon, you may want to skip putting salt in the eggs, or use just a tiny bit of salt.

Slicing Roasted Red Pepper

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I love roasted red pepper. And it's really inexpensive to buy in jars. You can roast your own, but it's really not worth the effort. | Source

Slicing the pepper into strips is fun and easy. 8 strips will make a nice star on your omelet. | Source

Here's the roasted red pepper with some slices. You can use fresh red, green, or yellow pepper, too. | Source

Olive Oils and Butter

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Choice Olive Oils | Source

Butter - optional, but delicious! | Source

Olive Oil Choices

I always use Extra Virgin olive oil - it has the best taste. It used to be an expensive specialty item, but now it is quite common and not too costly. In fact, I've been finding it at discount outlets lately, for just $3 per quart or liter. (That's where I got the glass bottles in the photo; the big canister was on sale at a green market.) I buy organic when I can, but I don't worry about that too much. One recommendation: olive oil that has a very green shade tends to taste more like olives - a delicious flavor, but a bit too strong for a salmon dish.

Butter is optional, but, as always, delicious!

Lovely Sliced Shallots

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A whole shallot - a sweet, mild cousin to garlic and onion - is a beautiful amber gold. | Source

Shallots, Garlic, or Onions?

I discovered shallots last year, and I think they are beautiful. Taste-wise, they sit halfway between garlic and onion, but are mild and only mildly sweet.

Small shallots can be a pain - as much skin as garlic, and harder to peel. Large shallots, though, peel easily and slice up in seconds.

For this dish, shallots are my favorite because the mild flavor goes so well with salmon.

Scallions or spring onions are also mild, and do well.

For a stronger flavor, use garlic, but just one large or two small cloves. If onion is all you can get, try to use a mild onion, and use only half of one.

Mixing the Milk and Eggs

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I use soy milk, but you can use regular or skim milk, as you choose. | Source

Aren't eggs beautiful? | Source

Natural eggs are a rich, golden color, not a pale yellow. | Source

Whipping eggs with a whisk is fun! | Source

Beaten eggs | Source

Pouring the milk into the beaten eggs. Then add the salt, if desired, and whisk just for a few seconds, and the omelet mix is ready to go into the pan. | Source

Easy cooking for a French omelet

Slice the raw salmon or smoked salmon (lox) into thin pieces, or, if you are using leftover or steamed salmon, break it into bits.
Slice the shallot, scallion, or spring onion in long thin strips. (Or if that's too much trouble, just chop it up!) The red pepper is optional, but beautiful. Slice it into thin strips. Set all these ingredients aside, ready to drop into the omelet when the pan is hot.

Break all 8 eggs into a bowl or 4-cup measure, and beat with a whisk until smooth. Pour in the milk or soy milk, and the salt (if any), and beat some more.

Line up all the ingredients near the stove, so you're ready to drop them in.
If you are using an electric stove, now is the time to pre-heat the second burner on it's very lowest setting. Heat the pan, dry, on medium-high or high heat.
Add the olive oil. If it starts to smoke, lift the pan for just a moment. Add the butter (optional). It should melt very quickly.
When the oil is hot, pour the egg mixture in very quickly. Then, right away, move the pan to the other burner, or, on a gas stove, turn the heat down.

Cover again, and cook for 4 to 12 minutes. Cooking time varies greatly due to different cooking temperatures and pans. But this is not a problem - it's safe to check your omelet every 3 minutes, and there is a lot of leeway - a bit long or short on the cooking, and it will still come out great.

When all the liquid egg on top is solid, your omelet is done. Slice and serve!

Everything Ready to Go!

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I like to lay out all the ingredients right beside the stove before I turn on the burners. This keeps me from getting confused and forgetting something! | Source

Two burners for one pan? Yup! The right one is on high to heat the oil and quickly cook the bottom of the omelet. The left is on low, ready to receive the pan right after the eggs are put in, for the slow-cook. | Source

Cooking Tips

Here are some cooking tips:

On newer electric stoves, the second burner should probably be set between medium and low, as low may not be hot enough to really fluff the omelet.

If the omelet is cooking very slowly near the end, you can increase the heat, and also drizzle a little water down the edge of the pan. The water will steam up and cook the top of the egg.

If you like, you can put the shallots, garlic, spring onions, or onions in the hot oil, swirl them around for a quick shallow-fry, and pour the eggs over them. This gives a more sauteed flavor to the shallots, onions, or garlic.

Don't worry - it's safe to take off the cover and take a look!

Smoking Olive Oil

The olive oil is smoking, and the butter is turning black! | Source

Oops! I burned the olive oil!

I'm a better cook than this, honest! But I was trying to be a cook and a photographer at the same time, and the camera shut down, then the shutter delay went of and . . . and . . . the olive oil started to smoke.

It all came out okay - here's a photo of what not to do!

If the oil does start to smoke, lift the pan off the burner. It's okay to cook with oil that's too hot. In fact, the French have beurre brun (brown butter) and beurre noire (black butter). But health folks tell us that over-heated oil is unhealthy. For lighter flavor or health, you can dump out the oil and start over.

An Easy Cooking Process

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All the ingredients are laid in. The shallots and salmon will gently cook as the egg fluffs and becomes solid. | Source

Cover the pan and set on medium-low or low heat. | Source

Lay the red peppers in place for decoration about halfway through the 20-minute cooking time. | Source

Plate it up and serve it hot! | Source

Cooking Process

When your pour the egg and milk mixture into the hot pan, the bottom of the egg will cook and turn solid right away, giving the omelet a firm bottom. Take it off the high heat immediately!

Then lay in the salmon and the shallots, and add some ground pepper if you want. (Photo #1 above.)

Cover the pan (Photo #2) and let it cook for about 10 minutes before laying in the red pepper (photo #3). If you are using raw red pepper, you can put it in a couple of minutes earlier. When the top is solid, your delicious French Salmon Omelette is ready to plate and serve (Photo #4).

French Salmon Omelet Nutrition Information

Nutrition Facts

Serving size: 1 portion, 2 eggs, 1 oz. salmon

Calories

409

Calories from Fat

261

% Daily Value *

Fat 29 g

45%

Saturated fat 9 g

45%

Unsaturated fat 20 g

Carbohydrates 14 g

5%

Sugar 9 g

Fiber 1 g

4%

Protein 16 g

32%

Cholesterol 400 mg

133%

* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change
depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been
professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Nutrition Information Details

The nutrition information on the right is calculated for 1/4 of the recipe, so, as stated, the recipe serves 4. The photo of 1/4 of the dish from the 10-inch pan is one portion. You can reduce fat and cholesterol just a bit by not using the teaspoon of butter, and cooking in olive oil only, or by replacing the milk with skim milk.

I Love Salmon, But . . .

I love salmon, but I'm glad I don't have to stand in an icy river for an hour to catch it! (See video)

And I'm glad there's enough to go around. What if I had to wrestle with this guy to get my salmon!

Let's appreciate and take care of the natural world, cook great food, and have some fun eating it!

Hi Au Fait! I think you'll find you can just use salmon (flaked up small if you like it that way) the same way you use bacon bits. Salmon goes particularly well with sweet peppers or mushrooms. If you use cheese with salmon, use a mild cheese like feta, so the salmon isn't overwhelmed. Be sure to come back and tell us how it worked out!

C E Clark 4 years agofrom North Texas

I love omelets. I've never tried making one with salmon. Usually mushrooms, onions, bacon bits, sweet peppers, and cheese are as fancy as I get, but this is very tempting. I think it will be a nice addition to make a salmon omelet sometimes instead of the usual.

Thanks so much, Greensleeves, especially for the share. You're helping me make the whole world more delicious!

Greensleeves Hubs 5 years agofrom Essex, UK

A really excellently described menu Sid. Omelettes are so easy, but perhaps almost too easy - a little bit of variation on the ingredients and cooking method may make all the difference to create a new and better flavour. Good descriptions and illustrations of the cooking process. (And nice video too!) Voted up and shared on Pinterest

Tonipet, thanks for all your good thoughts, and for the share. For pancakes, my favorite is cast iron. I think that all the new technologies have not given us a lot of advantage over the best of the 1800s - enamelware and cast iron!

Tonette Fornillos 5 years agofrom The City of Generals

Thank you Sid. I'll remember this - pancakes do best on a medium heat, just below oil smoking temperature, steady all the way through. I think it's time to try an enameled pan like that of yours :=)... Oh, I had a good laugh with that, the nonstick that becomes super-stick, lol. Thanks again my friend, this is really helpful! Blessings and best of all. I'm SHARING!

Kristi Sharp 5 years agofrom Born in Missouri. Raised in Minnesota.

I keep thinking we all need to meet in the middle. Where would the middle be? It would be a get-together of epic proportions.

So, breakfast is at your place? This looks absolutely delicious. I understand the perils of being the photographer, cook, illustrator, model....and so forth. What in the world have we signed up for? I love it! Salmon...I don't buy it often but the next time I do, I'm going to try this. Thanks for sharing your omelet recipe and wonderful photos! -K

Yup, tonipet, not enough heat at the beginning will make a greasy omelet. The high heat sears the egg protein, sealing it against the grease. It bubbles and pops for a couple of seconds, but it doesn't burn as long as the oil wasn't smoking. Pancakes do best on a medium heat, just below oil smoking temperature, steady all the way through.

Yes, that was an enamelware pan. They are the least expensive pans for this kind of cooking. Stainless and expensive, very high quality non-stick work as well. Some of the newer, supposedly less-toxic non-stick's work as well, but they are untested. We got a great 8" omelet pan, but, after 6 months, it's not non-stick any more, it's super-stick!

This is lovely and the photos are delicious! I thought it always has to begin with low fire (after the pan has been heated up) when making omelets and pancakes. This perhaps is the reason why most of my omelets come out a little greasy, I'm not sure. I was always worried burning the food. Thanks for the tips. Was that an enameled pan you were using?

Rose Clearfield 5 years agofrom Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Great job with this detailed recipe! I enjoyed learning about French omelets and the two burner technique. I'll have to give this a try sometime.

Dora Weithers 5 years agofrom The Caribbean

Excellent instruction! I share your love of salmon and this sounds great. Thanks for sharing.